


Just A Little Longer

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: Bittersweet, Bonding, Brotherly Affection, Caretaking, Caring, Cleaning, Comfort No Hurt, Domestic Fluff, Exhaustion, Gentleness, Hair Brushing, Help, Late at Night, Mid-Canon, Multiple Selves, Schneep and Marvin have their close moments, Sleepiness, Street & Stage Magic, Surprises, Tenderness, They don't happen often but they really should, Trust, post-show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: Marvin comes home late at night with his hair in unruly tangles. Fortunately Schneep has experience with such things.





	Just A Little Longer

It had been quite a long day and a rather exhausting performance. As thrilling as it was for Marvin to hear the audiences holler for an encore, he hadn’t really expected to run forty-five minutes longer than his usual two-hour show. He just couldn’t bear to see those adoring kids’ faces crumple in disappointment.

Of course there were consequences for pushing himself so much farther than usual; his  _body_ was about ready to crumple as he slid into the taxi and slumped low in the seat, pushing his mask up onto his forehead and scrubbing at his eyes.

“You’re a lifesaver,” he mumbled to the taxi driver, leaning the side of his head against the cool glass of the side window. It was rare to find a driver out this late at night, but now that he had, he couldn’t even imagine trying to trudge all the way home being as exhausted as he was. Fortunately the driver seemed to sense that he wasn’t in the mood for a long conversation, so he responded with nothing but a smile and nod.

The silence on the ride home was broken only by the soothing rumble of the taxi engine. If asked, Marvin would have readily admitted that he was mere moments away from slumping over onto the floor of the taxi when the brakes squeaked in front of Egos Incorporated.

“You’re home, buddy,” the driver called back to him, keeping a hushed undertone to his voice as he glanced over his shoulder at him.

“Hmm? Home?” As he jolted back upright, the magician couldn’t help but feel emotion bloom warmly in his chest.

 _Home_. There was nothing like getting home after a draining day. He was so ready to get inside that he very nearly forgot to pay the kindhearted taxi driver in his clumsy scramble to get out. “Oh, s-sorry…Have a nice night.”

“You might wanna start getting home earlier,” he advised in reply, to which Marvin could offer nothing but a shrug and a rueful smile.

As he’d expected, the front room was completely dark when he eased the front door open, so he caught some sparks of magic on his fingers to create some light, careful to keep them confined to a three-foot radius. He’d learned from experience that the sparks’ flashing and popping could wake Jackieboy up far too easily. The night he’d burst out of his room thinking that Chase was shooting something wasn’t an experience that Marvin felt inclined to repeat.

Shrugging his cape off with a single tug of the knot, Marvin tossed it haphazardly at the coatrack, not particularly caring to see if it landed as he wandered toward the bathroom to wash away the soot. Incorporating rings of fire into his show would always mean a little more cleanup; right now he was sincerely regretting it. All he wanted was to tumble into bed face first and sleep until two in the afternoon.

 _Just a few more minutes_ , he promised himself, squinting with a grumbled curse as the light in the bathroom proved to be much brighter than he remembered.

The soot required more than its fair share of scrubbing, considering the magical element, but eventually there was more of it in a ring around the drain than in the creases of his palms. Whatever. That was good enough. His hair, however, was getting rather out of control, Marvin noted resignedly as he peered blearily into the bathroom mirror. He hadn’t cut it in a while; it was just brushing over the high point of his shoulders now and somewhere during the flurries of movement he’d made onstage, it was sticking up in every odd angle imaginable.

It wasn’t in his character to whine, but he was  _desperately_  tempted to now. Deep down he knew that if he went to bed with it like this, it would be nothing but a mass of nightmarish knots tomorrow morning.

He was too busy glowering miserably at his problem to notice the bathroom door creaking open until Schneep’s hushed voice made him jump. “How was the show?”

“Whoa—hi. It was fine,” Marvin replied hastily, trying to smear at his wayward strands of hair so he would look mildly presentable. Schneep’s eyebrows rose at the motion.

“Do you, ah, need a bit of help there?” he questioned rhetorically, nudging the bathroom door open a bit farther.

Marvin was almost entirely certain that what came out of his mouth was something similar to “Nah, it’s fine” or “No, thanks, I’ve got it”, but somehow or another when he blinked, Schneep had taken him by the arm and was guiding him toward the couch with a brush in his opposite hand. As soon as he was perched on the farthest side of the couch, the magician had his mask whisked deftly off his face and put on the coffee table.

Fine, fine, sleep could wait just a little longer. With Schneep’s attention to detail, it probably wouldn’t take him too long to get all the tangles out, and he didn’t exactly mind letting the younger Ego do his thing.

Clearly he’d had some practice at this; the brush was kind as he nestled it deep in his hair and dragged it all the way to the base of his neck, leaving a pleasant tingle as the bristles massaged the muscles in his scalp. He honestly hadn’t realized how tense he was. Exhaling faintly, he curled his legs up underneath him on the couch cushions so he could get a bit more comfortable.

As soon as he shifted, Schneep automatically followed suit to accommodate him in case he wanted more room, which Marvin appreciated. He never stopped brushing, though, no matter how much or how little Marvin reacted. Occasionally he would set the brush on his knee for a few moments to peel apart a tangle by hand. His fingers were a little too cool and calloused whenever they grazed his skin, but there was so much  _care_  in them.

When was the last time someone had been this gentle with him? When was the last time he had  _let_  someone be this gentle with him? He honestly couldn’t remember. The more prominent questions in his mind, however, were these: How exactly had Schneep gotten this experienced and why on earth hadn’t they done this sooner?

As much as he wanted to inquire, he didn’t want to break Schneep’s focus on what he was doing. If need be, he would ask Marvin to tilt his head a certain way so he could have better access to the layers of hair underneath, but otherwise he kept his words to soft murmurs of concentration in German. That had an oddly soothing quality about it too. Marvin could feel his head and his eyelids drooping lower as he let the foreign words wash over him.

 _I don’t know what you’re saying_. The confession was on the tip of his tongue, but sleep was starting to addle his brain as it closed in on all sides. That was a question that could wait until later with the rest of them.

Schneep could see the change in the other Ego as he finally fell asleep, listing sideways to slump against the back of the couch, but he didn’t stop what he was doing. Though he knew none of his words were translating, he didn’t stop talking to him either.

_I haven’t done this in so long._

_I’ve missed this._

_I used to do this with my wife._

_I miss her too._

_It’s not often you’re this open with me._

_We should change that. We’re just as much brothers as the others, aren’t we?_

_You’ve taken care of me quite a bit._

_Thank you for letting me be the one who helps this time._

_Thank you for trusting me._


End file.
